On the rise of the modern porn industry and its roots in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. The discussion covers the medium’s origins in underground stag films and the porno chic era; the shift to home video and the corporate studio model; gender, labor, and power in late-20th-century media; the relationship between pornography and evolving feminist politics; porn’s role in the VHS–Betamax war; and how the internet has affected a formerly professionalized industry.
